Arrivals & Departures by Leslie Thomas

Author:Leslie Thomas [Thomas, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arrow

Nine

The two ladies walked down the stone slope from Windsor Castle, picking careful progress over the humps of the cobbles and between other straggling tourists. Mrs Durie surveyed the ramparts with a searching eye. ‘I wonder where her kitchen is,’ she said. Before crossing the main road she helpfully held Mrs Collingwood’s elbow but, by performing an adroit twist of arms and responsibility, the American ended by guiding the Englishwoman across the street.

‘What a job,’ sighed Mrs Durie as she sank into the cushioned chair at the Castle Hotel. It had been a warm afternoon. ‘No wonder the Queen looks weary sometimes.’

Professionally she scanned the lounge and people sitting at tea. ‘This place could do with a dust,’ she confided. Before them the low table was already set out and she picked up the cups and examined each one minutely at both the rim and the base. Then, like a ceramics expert, she subjected the plates to a similar scrutiny and finally turned her squeezed eyes on the bowls of the teaspoons and the prongs of the forks. ‘Seems to be all right,’ she announced grudgingly. ‘But you can never tell. They don’t wash up like they used to.’

The waitress came and, after diplomatically consulting with Mrs Durie, Pearl Collingwood ordered tea, sandwiches and cakes.

‘It was nice,’ said the Englishwoman genuinely. ‘Thank you ever so much. I’d probably never have gone in the Castle if it wasn’t for you.’ She prepared to whisper as though worried about the consequences of what she was about to say. ‘It was a bit dusty in there too, didn’t you think, Mrs Collingwood? And draughty. I couldn’t feel at home with all those windy corridors.’

‘There’s Buckingham Palace as well,’ pointed out the American woman. ‘And that looked quite solid, quite draught proof, Mrs Durie.’

They had staked out their relationship well, each knowing where she stood and was comfortable. The waitress brought the tea. ‘Do you really like it here?’ Mrs Durie asked seriously. ‘Not in this hotel, I mean, in England?’

Pearl Collingwood appeared astonished. ‘But of course I do,’ she enthused. The other woman had taken charge of the teapot as if her companion could not be expected to know how to deal with it, and was now busy with the strainer, which, for a moment, she briefly peered through like a magnifying glass. The American went on: ‘I just love it here. It is everything I would have imagined.’ She accepted the cup of tea and placed it carefully in front of her. ‘Otherwise,’ she added firmly, ‘I would never have stayed.’

Mrs Durie was eyeing the sandwiches. Stealthily she opened one, as though raising a lid. She squinted at the salad contents. ‘Quite well filled,’ she murmured grudgingly, ‘in the circumstances.’

She returned her attention to Mrs Collingwood, handing the sandwich plate across and saying: ‘There’s ham as well.’ With her free hand she made another snap check of the ham contents. Her head bent forward and her nose twitched. ‘Quite fresh,’ she decided. She looked about her with less suspicion.

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